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WrestleMania 34
WrestleMania 34 was the thirty-fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Production Background WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship event, having been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. The event was the second WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana, after 2014 and the second held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Tickets went on sale on November 17, 2017, with individual tickets costing $35 to $2,000. On October 30, 2017, traveling packages with accommodation ranging from $1,150 to $8,525 per person were sold. On April 8, prior to the start of WrestleMania 34, WWE and Snickers will hold the WrestleMania Block Party at the Champions Square plaza. The tailgate event will feature appearances from WWE Hall of Famers Alundra Blayze and Ric Flair as well as appearances from active competitors Tamina and R-Truth. American duo Chloe x Halle will perform "America the Beautiful" to kick off the main card of WrestleMania. Since 2014, WWE has attempted to establish Roman Reigns as their top babyface and the next "face of the company", but a significant portion of fans rejected Reigns in this role, taking issue with his perceived special treatment, real-life demeanor, wrestling moveset, speaking skills and character presentation. This resulted in Reigns being booed while he wrestled in the main events of WrestleMania 31, WrestleMania 32, and WrestleMania 33. Reigns was even voted as 2016's "Most Hated Wrestler of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. In response to the negative reception, Reigns said that there is "possible jealousy" from fans regarding his "major success". In March 2017 before WrestleMania 33, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that WWE's long term plans ("which obviously could change") for WrestleMania 34 was to "once again build for a year and have the big coronation" for Reigns, who would still be a heroic character "between now and then" and beat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship "to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company", while the "idea" for Lesnar's role "for years now" was "to become a monster, be unbeatable, run through everybody, and then lose to Roman Reigns". Storylines The card will include matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by WWE on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and 205 Live, the latter of which is cruiserweight-exclusive. At the Royal Rumble, AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match to retain the WWE Championship. Later that night, Shinsuke Nakamura won the men's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Roman Reigns. After the match, Nakamura called out Styles when questioned on his decision on which world title he would challenge for at WrestleMania 34, confirming his intention to face Styles for the WWE Championship and staying on SmackDown. Nakamura's opponent may change, however, as on the January 30 episode of SmackDown, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were scheduled to face each other the following week to determine who will face Styles for the title at Fastlane. That same night, Styles and Nakamura teamed up and defeated Owens and Zayn. Also at the Royal Rumble, Asuka won the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match, last eliminating Nikki Bella. As a result, Asuka earned the right to challenge for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. Before she could make her decision that night, she was interrupted by former UFC star Ronda Rousey, confirming she had signed full-time with WWE. The following night on Raw, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon convinced Asuka to wait until after Elimination Chamber to pick which championship to challenge for, as Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss was scheduled to defend her title in the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match. Since men's Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura chose to stay on SmackDown and challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled a number one contender's Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber to determine who would face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. After previous WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore was released from WWE on January 23, 2018, and the title was vacated, it was announced that a general manager would be appointed for 205 Live and would address the championship; 205 Live was previously controlled by the Raw General Manager as 205 Live is part of the Raw brand. On the January 30 episode of 205 Live, Drake Maverick (formerly known as Rockstar Spud in Impact Wrestling) was appointed as the 205 Live General Manager. Maverick announced that there would be a 16-man single elimination tournament to crown a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion, with the finals to occur at WrestleMania 34. The tournament began that episode with Cedric Alexander and TJP advancing to the quarterfinals by defeating Gran Metalik and Tyler Bate, respectively. Over the next couple of weeks, Kalisto, Roderick Strong, Mark Andrews, Drew Gulak, Buddy Murphy, and Mustafa Ali also advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Lince Dorado, Hideo Itami, Akira Tozawa, Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, and Gentleman Jack Gallagher, respectively. The quarterfinals occurred over the next couple of weeks with Alexander, Strong, Gulak, and Ali advancing to the semifinals by defeating TJP, Kalisto, Andrews, and Murphy, respectively. At WrestleMania 31, then-UFC star Ronda Rousey made an appearance alongside The Rock and confronted now-Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H of The Authority, where Rousey attacked Triple H and scared Stephanie with an attempted armbar. This began speculation that Rousey would eventually come to WWE. She made some appearances over the next couple of years and was rumored to compete in the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match in 2018, but she denied she would be at the event. However, following Asuka's victory in that match, the now former UFC star made an appearance, confirming that she had signed full-time with WWE, and would sign her Raw contract at Elimination Chamber. At the event, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, Stephanie, and Triple H introduced Rousey. Before she signed her contract, Triple H confirmed that there were no special stipulations in the contract, but Rousey would have her debut match at WrestleMania 34. Angle, who Stephanie previously threatened to fire and who Triple H had turned on back at Survivor Series, then brought up the incident from WrestleMania 31 and said that Triple H and Stephanie wanted to manipulate Rousey as revenge. This eventually lead to Rousey putting Triple H through a table, which caused Stephanie to slap Rousey, but ran before Rousey could attack her and Rousey signed her contract. The following night on Raw, in an attempt to keep his job, Angle said that he had lied and Stephanie thanked Angle for clearing the air, however, Rousey wanted an apology for Stephanie's slap. Stephanie then apologized, but as she and Triple H left the ring, Triple H attacked Angle. On the March 5 episode, Stephanie said that Rousey could choose any member of the active Raw roster as her opponent at WrestleMania except the champion; Rousey chose Stephanie. Angle said that although Stephanie was an executive in WWE, she also had a contract to compete as a wrestler. He then reminded Triple H of his warning following Survivor Series where if Triple H were to attack him again, he would retaliate. He said that Triple H also had a contract to compete as a wrestler, leading Angle to schedule Triple H and Stephanie to face himself and Rousey in a mixed tag team match at WrestleMania. On the [[March 12, 2018 Monday Night RAW results|March 12 episode of Raw]], a Battle Royal open to any female performer of any brand was scheduled for WrestleMania 34. The match, originally named in honor of WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, was introduced to serve as a female counterpart to its male version, the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which has taken place annually since WrestleMania XXX in 2014. However, a few days later, the match was renamed "WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal" due to the backlash from fans and critics regarding Moolah's past. On the March 19 episode of Raw, Sasha Banks became the first to announce her participation in the match. Throughout the summer of 2017, Kevin Owens feuded with SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon, which lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell where Sami Zayn helped Owens defeat Shane. Zayn explained that during the Superstar Shake-up, he was glad that he was brought to SmackDown, which had been called the "land of opportunity", but he never got an opportunity, and after Shane ignored his warning about facing Owens, he realized that Shane did not actually care about him and Shane only cared about himself and that was why he saved Owens. He said that despite their rough history, going from being best friends in NXT to becoming bitter rivals, Owens was still his brother and he realized that Owens was right all along. At Survivor Series, Owens and Zayn attacked Shane during the 5-on-5 Survivor Series interbrand elimination match against Team Raw, which SmackDown ultimately lost. Shane then decided that at Clash of Champions, Owens and Zayn would face Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura with himself as the special guest referee while also declaring that if Owens and Zayn were to lose, they would be fired from WWE. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan added himself as a second special guest referee to keep the match fair, and during the match, Shane deliberately stopped his count while Zayn pinned Orton. Owens and Zayn won the match after Bryan gave a fast three count. Shane then believed that Bryan was defending Owens and Zayn as Bryan gave them both a WWE Championship match in a handicap match against AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble, but Styles retained by pinning Owens, who was not the legal man, which Shane ignored when the two confronted him. Tensions then started brewing between Owens and Zayn as Bryan scheduled them to face each other to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship at Fastlane. That match eventually became a six-pack challenge, during which Shane twice broke up pinfalls involving both Owens and Zayn, and Styles again retained his title. Shane then took an indefinite leave of absence, but as one last decision, he scheduled Owens and Zayn to fight each other at WrestleMania 34. Owens and Zayn reacted by brutally attacking Shane. At Fastlane, Randy Orton captured the United States Championship from Bobby Roode. Following the match, Jinder Mahal, who felt that he should have been in the match, attacked both men, but he and Orton received a Glorious DDT from Roode. On the following episode of SmackDown, Roode confronted Orton and invoked his rematch clause for WrestleMania 34. Mahal interrupted and defeated Roode in a match, but suffered an RKO from Orton. The following week, Orton was scheduled to defend the United States Championship in a triple threat match against Roode and Mahal at WrestleMania. On the March 27 episode, Mahal teamed with Rusev to defeat Orton and Roode, who turned on each other after Orton hit Roode with an RKO. Backstage, Mahal said he would get Rusev a front row seat at WrestleMania to watch him win, but Rusev wanted to be in the title match since he pinned Orton, which was made official, making the U.S. Championship match a fatal four-way. Throughout 2017, The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) and The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) fought at various events over the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The original feud ended at Hell in a Cell in the namesake match with The Usos victorious. The New Day earned another shot at the titles at Fastlane, but the match ended after both teams were attacked by The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan), injuring Jey, Kingston, and Woods. On the following episode of SmackDown, Big E and Jimmy teamed up to take revenge, but were defeated. On the March 27 episode, New Day's Big E and Woods faced The Bludgeon Brothers, who won by disqualification after The Usos attacked them. A triple threat tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was scheduled for WrestleMania 34. On January 23, 2018, WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore was released from WWE, vacating the title. A separate general manager was then appointed for 205 Live, which was previously controlled by the Raw General Manager. On the January 30 episode of 205 Live, new general manager Drake Maverick (formerly Rockstar Spud in Impact Wrestling) scheduled a 16-man single elimination tournament to crown a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion, culminating with the finals at WrestleMania 34. Over the next couple of weeks, Cedric Alexander, TJP, Kalisto, Roderick Strong, Mark Andrews, Drew Gulak, Buddy Murphy, and Mustafa Ali advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Gran Metalik, Tyler Bate, Lince Dorado, Hideo Itami, Akira Tozawa, Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, and Gentleman Jack Gallagher, respectively. Over the next two episodes, Alexander, Strong, Gulak, and Ali advanced to the semifinals by defeating TJP, Kalisto, Andrews, and Murphy, respectively. On the following two episodes, both Alexander and Ali secured their spot in the tournament final by defeating Strong and Gulak, respectively, to compete for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania, which was moved to the pre-show. On the March 12 episode of Raw, a Battle Royal open to any female performer of any brand was scheduled for WrestleMania 34. The match, originally named in honor of WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, was introduced to serve as a female counterpart to its male version, the annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.< However, a few days later, the match was renamed "WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal" due to the backlash from fans and critics regarding Moolah's past and treatment of other women. Like the men's match, the reward is the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal Trophy. The main storyline going into the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal was the friendship between Bayley and Sasha Banks. For weeks prior to the announcement of the match, the friendship between both women became more and more strained. At Elimination Chamber, Banks turned on Bayley in the namesake match. Banks then became the first to announce her participation in the battle royal on the March 19 episode of Raw. The following week, Bayley confirmed her participation and was confronted by Banks, who wanted to talk about their recent issues, but a backstage brawl broke out between them. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Banks saved Bayley from a post-match ambush by Absolution's Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. Banks expected Bayley to be grateful, but the two instead fought. It was later confirmed that both the men's and women's battle royals would occur on the pre-show. Determined to compete at WrestleMania 34, free agent John Cena entered himself into the Royal Rumble match to earn himself a world championship match at WrestleMania, but failed to win. He then qualified for the Elimination Chamber match, hoping to earn a shot at the Universal Championship at WrestleMania, but again failed. On Raw, Cena challenged The Undertaker, whom he had never faced at WrestleMania, but as that match was apparently impossible, he used his free agent status to go to SmackDown to look for another WrestleMania opportunity. On SmackDown, Cena defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match to become the sixth competitor in the WWE Championship match at Fastlane, giving him the opportunity to go to WrestleMania as the WWE Champion, however, Styles retained. Cena returned to Raw and pondered attending WrestleMania as a fan, but then decided to once again challenge The Undertaker, stating that it was not the WWE executives who were keeping it from happening, but Undertaker himself. By the following week, Cena had not received an answer. Cena urged Undertaker to come out, but instead, Undertaker's (kayfabe) brother Kane appeared and attacked Cena with a chokeslam. Cena then faced Kane in a no-disqualification match where he taunted Undertaker, performing his signature sit-up and throat slash gestures, as well as the chokeslam. After defeating Kane, Cena continued his antagonizing of the dead man. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Cena still had not received an answer. Cena said he would not enter the men's battle royal or be Braun Strowman's partner to not take a spot from the full-time talent, especially since he lost his last five pay-per-view matches. He said he was not mad about not having a match, but was mad at Undertaker for not answering. Event Pre-show Three matches were contested on the two-hour long WrestleMania 34 Kickoff pre-show. In the first match, Matt Hardy won the 5th annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal with the help of Bray Wyatt, who he had previously been feuding with. Next, Cedric Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali in the tournament final to win the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Finally, the 1st WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal occurred. The match came down to Sasha Banks and Bayley, who were seemingly teaming up for a bit. Banks then went to shake hands with Bayley, who went for the shake, but quickly eliminated Banks. Bayley then began celebrating, but did not realize that Naomi had not actually been eliminated. Naomi then eliminated Bayley to win the match. Preliminary matches The main show opened with The Miz defending the Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor in a triple threat match. After a curb stomp to The Miz, Rollins won his first Intercontinental Championship, becoming the 19th Grand Slam Champion in the process. Next, Charlotte Flair defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka. In the end, Flair made Asuka tap out to the Figure Eight Leg Lock, ending Asuka's two-year undefeated streak. After the match, Asuka proclaimed that Flair was ready for her, and the two hugged. In the third match, Randy Orton defended the United States Championship against Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and Rusev in a fatal four-way match. The end came when Sunil Singh distracted Rusev, allowing Mahal to perform the Khallas on Rusev to win Orton's title and his first U.S. Championship. After that, Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey faced Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, which was Rousey's in-ring debut and Stephanie's first match at WrestleMania. Angle and Triple H started the match, while Stephanie would distract the referee and attack Rousey. Rousey eventually tagged in and faced off with Stephanie. She also faced off against Triple H. In the end, Rousey made Stephanie submit to the armbar. In the fifth match, The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston and The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) in a triple threat tag team match. The Bludgeon Brothers dominated the match and pinned Kingston to win their first SmackDown Tag Team Championship as a team, and the second for Harper individually. This was also the first time that the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was defended at WrestleMania. As John Cena promised, he attended WrestleMania 34 as a fan. However, following the SmackDown Women's Championship match, a referee informed him that The Undertaker had arrived at the arena. Cena then jumped the barricade and ran backstage. After the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match, Cena made his entrance, ready to face The Undertaker, but Elias came out instead. Cena attacked Elias and began to leave, after which, the lights went out. When they came back on, Undertaker's coat and hat that he had left in the ring the previous year appeared in the ring and then disappeared after being struck by lightning. The Undertaker then made his entrance and quickly defeated Cena in an impromptu match. After that, Daniel Bryan in his in-ring return teamed with Shane McMahon to face Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn where if Owens and Zayn won, they would be rehired to SmackDown. Before the match began, Owens and Zayn attacked Bryan and Shane from behind, and Owens performed a powerbomb on Bryan onto the corner of the ring, taking Bryan out for a portion of the match. Shane then decided to face the two alone, and the match officially started. Owens and Zayn dominated the match until Bryan recovered. In the climax, Bryan made Zayn submit to the Yes Lock, and as per the match's stipulation, Owens and Zayn remained fired from SmackDown. Next, Alexa Bliss defended the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax. Mickie James had accompanied Bliss to the ring, but Jax attacked her before the match began, taking her out. Jax won the match after performing a Samoan Drop on Bliss from the top rope, winning her first Raw Women's Championship. In the ninth match, AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. After a hard back and forth match, the end came when Styles reversed Nakamura's Kinshasa into a Styles Clash to retain the title. After the match, the two showed respect for each other. Nakamura then kneeled down and presented Styles with the WWE Championship belt. After Styles took the belt, Nakamura gave Styles a low-blow and continued to attack him, turning heel. In the penultimate match, Cesaro and Sheamus defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against Braun Strowman and a partner of his choosing. After all three men were in the ring, Strowman said he waited until then to reveal his partner, which would be a random fan from the live audience. Strowman went out into the crowd and chose 10-year old Nicholas. Strowman and Nicholas won the Raw Tag Team Championship after Strowman performed a running powerslam on Cesaro. With this win, Nicholas became the youngest WWE champion of any kind in history. Main event In the main event, Brock Lesnar defended the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Lesnar performed several German suplexes on Reigns, while Reigns also performed a couple of superman punches and spears on Lesnar. Lesnar performed an F-5 on Reigns for a near fall. He then performed another F-5 for another near fall. Frustrated, Lesnar took Reigns outside of the ring and performed an F-5 on him through the announcer's table. He then got Reigns back in the ring and performed another F-5, and Reigns again kicked out. More frustrated, Lesnar took off his gloves and busted Reigns' head open. He performed another F-5, and Reigns again kicked out, after which, Reigns made a comeback and performed two spears on Lesnar for a near fall. As Reigns went for another spear, Lesnar countered into an F-5 to defeat Reigns and retain the Universal Championship. Match Preview Results ; ; *Pre-Show: Matt Hardy won the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (16:35) *Pre-Show: Cedric Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali in a Tournament final match to win the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship (12:16) *Pre-Show: Naomi won the WrestleMania Women’s 20-woman Battle royal (9:51) *Seth Rollins defeated The Miz © & Finn Bálor in a Triple Threat match to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship (15:30) *Charlotte © defeated Asuka by submission to retain the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship (13:05) *Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton ©, Rusev (w/ Aiden English) & Bobby Roode in a Fatal 4-Way Match to win the WWE United States Championship (8:15) *Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey defeated Triple H & Stephanie McMahon by submission (20:40) *The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) defeated The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) © & The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (w/ Xavier Woods) in a Triple threat tag team match to win the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (5:50) *The Undertaker defeated John Cena (2:45) *Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan defeated Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn by submission (15:25) :*Had Owens and Zayn won, they would have been rehired to SmackDown. *Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss © (w/ Mickie James) to win the WWE Raw Women's Championship (10:15) *A.J. Styles © defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship (20:20) *Braun Strowman & Nicholas defeated The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) © to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (4:00) *Brock Lesnar © (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Roman Reigns to retain the WWE Universal Championship (15:55) André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal Eliminations WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal Eliminations WWE Cruiserweight Championship Tournament |RD2=Quarterfinals |RD3=Semifinals |RD4=Final | RD1-team01 ='Cedric Alexander' | RD1-team02 =Gran Metalik | RD1-score01 =Pin | RD1-score02 =9:27 | RD1-team03 =Tyler Bate | RD1-team04 ='TJP' | RD1-score03 =Pin | RD1-score04 =14:31 | RD1-team05 ='Kalisto' | RD1-team06 =Lince Dorado | RD1-score05 =Pin | RD1-score06 =11:37 | RD1-team07 =Hideo Itami | RD1-team08 ='Roderick Strong' | RD1-score07 =Pin | RD1-score08 =17:04 | RD1-team09 ='Mark Andrews' | RD1-team10 =Akira Tozawa | RD1-score09 = Pin | RD1-score10 =12:28 | RD1-team11 =Tony Nese | RD1-team12 ='Drew Gulak' | RD1-score11 =Sub | RD1-score12 =16:10 | RD1-team13 ='Mustafa Ali' | RD1-team14 =Jack Gallagher | RD1-score13 =Pin | RD1-score14 =17:08 | RD1-team15 =Ariya Daivari | RD1-team16 ='Buddy Murphy' | RD1-score15 =Pin | RD1-score16 =7:46 | RD2-team01 = Cedric Alexander | RD2-team02 = TJP | RD2-score01 =Pin | RD2-score02 =17:21 | RD2-team03 =Kalisto | RD2-team04 ='Roderick Strong' | RD2-score03 =Pin | RD2-score04 =11:39 | RD2-team05 =Mark Andrews | RD2-team06 ='Drew Gulak' | RD2-score05 =Sub | RD2-score06 =12:10 | RD2-team07 ='Mustafa Ali' | RD2-team08 =Buddy Murphy | RD2-score07 =Pin | RD2-score08 =11:05 | RD3-team01 ='Cedric Alexander' | RD3-team02 =Roderick Strong | RD3-score01 =Pin | RD3-score02 =14:54 | RD3-team03 =Drew Gulak | RD3-team04 ='Mustafa Ali' | RD3-score03 = Pin | RD3-score04 =15:13 | RD4-team01 = Cedric Alexander | RD4-team02 = Mustafa Ali | RD4-score01 = Pin | RD4-score02 = 12:20 }} Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal controversy The WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal was originally named The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal, but the announcement of The Fabulous Moolah as the namesake for the match drew significant backlash from fans and commentators alike. Due to allegations by numerous former female wrestlers that Moolah financially exploited and drugged the trainees she managed, and even pimped them out to male promoters, who sexually exploited or even raped them, Moolah was considered by many to be an ill fit for a memorial battle. David Bixenspan of Deadspin noted that the WWE's announcement that Moolah was a trailblazer for other female wrestlers and gender equality was ludicrous and discrediting towards other female wrestlers, considering the heavy allegations against her and her role in marginalizing women's wrestling. He concluded that "history is written by the victors" and pointed out that WWE could have picked a multitude of better suited women. A petition to change the battle's name at change.org gathered almost 10,000 signatures within its first two days. Initially, WWE reacted by disabling the comments section of their YouTube video that announced the Moolah battle royal. On March 15, Stephanie McMahon issued a statement announcing that the match name would be changed to the 'WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal' and the Moolah Memorial Trophy was nixed, thanking WWE fans for making their voices heard. According to a report by Deadspin, fans on Reddit started writing e-mails to main sponsor Snickers' parent company Mars, Incorporated, urging them to push WWE to change the battle's name. Furthermore, Deadspin and other media outlets requested a statement by Mars on the matter, which led the company to issue a statement calling The Fabulous Moolah's choice "unacceptable" and expressing their disappointment towards WWE. 90 minutes later, WWE dropped any reference to Moolah. Other on-screen talent See also *WrestleMania *List of WWE pay-per-view events *WWE Event History *Event gallery DVD release * WrestleMania XXXIV on DVD External links * WrestleMania XXXIV Official Website * WrestleMania 34 Kickoff Show on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 on WWE Network * 2018 Hall of Fame Red Carpet on WWE Network * 2018 Hall of Fame on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (ES) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (HI) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (JA) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (ZH) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (PT) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (RU) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (FR) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 (DE) on WWE Network * WrestleMania 34 Pre Show at CAGEMATCH.net * WrestleMania 34 at CAGEMATCH.net Category:WrestleMania Category:2018 pay-per-view events Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events